The present invention relates to a magnetic head slider capable of adjusting a gap flying height, and a magnetic disk drive equipped with the magnetic head slider. In particular, the present invention relates to a construction of a magnetic head slider including a heater to adjust the gap flying height.
A magnetic disk drive includes a rotating magnetic disk and a magnetic head slider equipped with a read/write element and supported by a suspension. This slider reads and writes information on the magnetic disk while relatively flying over the magnetic disk. A distance between the magnetic disk and the magnetic head slider, namely, a slider flying height must be reduced in order to accomplish a high recording density of such a magnetic disk drive. In particular, a gap flying height (hg) which is a distance between the magnetic disk and the read/write element of the magnetic head slider must be narrowed. The gap flying height (hg) varies depending on the machining error of the magnetic head slider or the environment in use (e.g., temperature, atmospheric pressure, and the like). Reduction of this variation will allow the gap flying height (hg) to be narrowed.
Means for reducing the variation of the gap flying height (hg) accompanied by a machining error or an environment change is disclosed in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 5-20635). According to Patent Document 1, a thin film resistor is provided within a coil insulating layer of an inductive type thin film magnetic head and if necessary, and this thin film resistor is energized to allow an end of the magnetic pole piece to protrude due to thermal expansion. Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2003-168274) discloses that a heater is provided in a position opposite to an air bearing surface (ABS) of magnetic head elements.